Update: Mount Royal Station Building and Lot Evacuated Until Further Notice

please stay tuned for updates via e-mail and on online

Posted 08.05.10 by mica communications

MICA has been informed that a major train derailment has occurred in the tunnel near the Mount Royal Station Building.

UPDATE at 2:46 p.m. Aug. 6:Emergency activity related to yesterday's freight train accident near Mount Royal Station has ended. CSX personnel continue to remove cars from the track and to clean and repair the site. This activity will continue throughout the weekend.

The Mount Royal Station Building and parking lot will be open as normal on Monday, August 9.

Thank you for your patience during this event. This will likely be your final update on the situation.

UPDATE at 2:36 p.m.:A secondary analysis has again not found an environmental or hazardous threat, airborne or on the ground, from the train derailment this morning. No threat to public safety has been identified. CSX is now putting the train cars back on the tracks and preparing to move them.

The Mt. Royal Station Building and parking lot remain closed until further notice, as the unified command continues to operate there. MICA personnel and students who normally park in that lot should be prepared to instead park in the Commons or North Avenue lot tomorrow morning, and personnel working out of that building should contact their supervisors. Buildings in the 1200 block of W. Mt. Royal remain open.

It is likely that this will be the final update on the situation until the Station building reopens. An update at that time will alert you to details regarding that reopening.

UPDATE at 11:43 a.m.: This is an update regarding the situation in the tunnel near Mount Royal Station. The situation is well under control and does not appear to be a cause for significant alarm.

Preliminary investigations have detected no environmental hazards or threat to life resulting from the derailment of a large CSX freight train this morning near Mount Royal Station. Federal, state and city authorities, including the Baltimore City Fire Department, Baltimore City Police Department, the mayor's office, MICA Campus Safety, MICA Operations, and various railroad and environmental authorities are continuing to conduct safety tests and more detailed investigations.

The vast majority of the derailment occurred in the tunnel. The Station Building has been evacuated of MICA personnel, mainly to make room for the unified command center that is being staged there. Because of the activity there, Operations has requested that MICA personnel refrain from coming near the 1200 block of W. Mount Royal, though the MICA bookstore and Art Tech Center remain open.

CSX officials are working with authorities to reroute passenger traffic around the accident, and they expect to have the scene cleared by early tomorrow morning.

Additional information will be forthcoming as it is available.

INITIAL MESSAGE:Operations is evacuating that building and is asking anyone with cars parked in the station lot to come and move them immediately. Operations has also requested that no one approach the building or area unless coming to move their cars. Alternative parking is available in the Commons or North Avenue lots.

The Dolphin Building and buildings on the 1200 block have not been evacuated but may be at any time, please stay tuned for updates via e-mail and on online at MICA.edu. Appropriate authorities are on the scene. Additional information will be forthcoming as it is available.